Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Eli Cotham

Well, I never played THEFLOORISLAVA, nor have I ever been anywhere where anyone played it, so this theme is not for me. 

When I do count the clock that tells the time, 

And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; 

When I behold the violet past prime, 

And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves 

Which ERST from heat did canopy the herd,

And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves 

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, 

Then of thy beauty do I question make, 

That thou among the wastes of time must go,

Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake

And die as fast as they see others grow; 

   And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence

   Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 

ATOB (Short first step) caught me by surprise, and I liked three of the Downs starting on the top edge of the puzzle. NOCANDO ("Impossible!") was fun, BACCHUS (Wine god of myth) is always welcome at my house, and EYESORE (House with a long-unmowed lawn, e.g.) was good. But I have never been a fan of April Fools' Day jokes (IGOTYOU), and GLUMMER (Not so happy) is not so good.

It feels a little weird to see APU in the puzzle so often when he has been silenced in the TV show, and there hasn't been an SST flight in over twenty years.

- Horace 

Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Tarun Krishnamurthy

Today's theme relies on the inferior candy REESES PIECES, and finds the word REESES into three longer entries:

HERECOMESTHESUN
RENEDESCARTES
PRESSESTHEFLESH

Neat. 

As long-time readers of this blog know, I prefer themeless puzzles, and sometimes I question the whole idea of themes. I know, I'm just being ornery. Themes can be surprising and fun...

Anywhooo, I didn't know that a TEMPEST was primarily a "Windstorm often accompanied by rain." I thought it was just a general storm. And I kind of liked the familiarity of TENPAST (A sixth of the way through the hour). Interesting non-duplication with ILE (Suffix with percent) and ISLE (Tahiti, e.g.).  

- Horace 

Monday, June 16, 2025, Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp

It's a cuteness overload this morning, with a grid filled with BABY animals - kitten, joey, puppy, calf, and chick. And, of course, that old crossword babies ETUI and SKAT. It's been quite a while since I have seen either in the wild.

Interesting clue for EPEES (Swords whose points were once dipped in dye before a duel), and kind of a loopy clue for LOOPY (Like cursive handwriting, typically). I mean, I guess that's true, but I never think of it that way for some reason. And it was also interesting to posit the invention of the HOE in a clue (Groundbreaking invention for ancient farmers?). 

OFFDUTY (Not working, as a police officer) and INLIMBO (Left hanging between two stages) were nice. POPSICLE (Treat on a stick that you lick) was fun. 

A fine Monday.

- Horace

Saturday, June 14, 2025, Barbara Lin

Tough Saturday! That upper right corner took me forever! On the bright side, it’s nice to now know about the existence of the TENREC (Hedgehog-like mammal of Madagascar). There are no CROCKER grocery stores near me, and I was not turned on to TVSET (Wall hanging, maybe). Finally VENEER came to me somehow, and that broke it open.

In other areas, GALUMPHED (Moved clumsily) was fun. And “Go out in the winter?” (HIBERNATE) was clever. “Fly-by-night” (REDEYE) was cute. 

It was interesting to learn that HYACINTHS were “Flowers in the same family as asparagus and agave.” And come to think of it, I have never really thought about what the SPLEEN did. When I think of SPLEEN, I think of Charles Baudelaire. “Quand le ciel bas et lourd…” and all that.

And speaking of a low, heavy sky, that's what it looks like here in Portland. Hopefully, it's pouring rain in Washington. Happy protesting, all.

- Horace 

Friday, June 13, 2025, Evan Mulvihill

Quite the start today, with HOTPANTS and SASHAY. Let's cut right to the tape:

After that we have the trickily-worded "Light shower?" (APERTURE), and the adorable SEAOTTER (Aquatic eater of shellfish). Not bad. Not bad at all.

The central stagger-stack starts mildly with COMESOUTAHEAD (Ultimately succeeds), then ultimately succeeds with the fun and modern GOESBEASTMODE (Runs wild, in gamer-speak), and the Big Lebowski-evoking WHITERUSSIANS (Cocktails that might make for poor nightcaps). 

COINPURSE (What might be pinched for pennies) is fun, UNICORNS (Majorly successful business start-ups) is nice, and things finish salty in the South with AGEGAP (Feature of a May-December romance).

Solid Friday.

- Horace 

Thursday, June 12, 2025, Daniel Bodily

Hakeem OLAJUWON came into the N.B.A. just around the time I stopped watching professional basketball. The Celtics had just won their 16th championship, and I was headed off to college. So I vaguely remember hearing about the QUADRUPLEDOUBLE achieved in 1990, but until today, I didn't actually know that it meant recording ten in four of these five stats: points; assists; rebounds; blocks; or steals. OLAJUWON, back on that late March day in 1990, got 18 points, 10 assists, 16 rebounds, and 11 blocks. Meh.

As far as this puzzle goes, I got the feeling there might be a double-letter rebus when I hit "'Weeping' giant" (WI[LL]OW), and then all the other rebuses fell into place. To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I hit the revealer and realized that there would be no more of them. 

"Farmer's squeeze?" (UDDER) was amusing, and there were a few literary entries - OWEN Wister and EDNA Ferber - but overall, this was sport-heavy.

- Horace 

Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Sam Koperwas and Jeff Chen

The MISSISSIPPI river runs down the middle of the grid, just like it runs down the middle of the country, dividing the country in half. The circled letters represent states that are separated by the river, and they are placed accurately from north to south. Pretty cool. The only downside, I guess, is that the clue for TERRE Haute, Ind. had to appear west of the river. :P DENALI, on the other hand, is accurate. 

PLAGIARISMS (Copyright wrongs) is an odd construction, but I understand that finding a word with both LA and MS must have been challenging. And as with so many early week puzzles, a lot is done in service to a theme. Here, the theme merits it, and so we tolerate the odd EKED and TTOP, and the somewhat outdated term SIAMESETWIN. 

- Horace

 

Tuesday, June 10, 2025, Zachary David Levy

It's all about the cell service these days, but who actually wants to make a GOODCALL? And when I saw GOODCALL for the first time and then looked up and saw "service" at the end of STREAMINGSERVICE I thought the theme might be a reference to tennis. I didn't see the French Open final, because I was away in a place with no TV and very few bars, but I was able to read about it after the fact. Quite a good match.

Anywhooo, this one was nice. PLOTZED (Was verklempt) will always make me think of Mike Myers, for better or for worse. And BREXIT seems a positively mild form of isolationism and xenophobia compared to what we see every day in this so-called country... sigh.

I've never heard of "Steak DIANE (dish flambéed tableside), but if I never do again it will be too soon. My brother went on and on this weekend about how his favorite thing to do is to slowly eat a rare steak with a glass of red wine. Gross.

It seemed weird to clue REARTIRE with "It helps give a car traction." I mean, sure, it does, but so do the front tires. The vast majority of compact, mid-size, and full size cars are sold with front wheel drive.

- Horace

Monday, June 9, 2025, Aimee Lucido

This one made me smile. The last words in each theme answer are LASTBUTNOTLEAST. Only the last word in the revealer is that. And there's something satisfying about the "but not" part, because it is! HEH.

"Pond honker" (GOOSE) got a chuckle. And you know what? I shared an art studio with a woman whose last name was SITAR, but until this very moment, I had not thought of her name as being the same as this "Instrument used in Hindustani classical music." Perhaps because the first vowel is pronounced so differently - "ee" instead of "ih." 

Anywayyyyy....  I will never remember that GOBAG (It's often packed during the final few weeks of pregnancy) is a thing. And the pregnancy angle threw me off even more. And I hadn't heard that the rating for PSYCHO was changed so long after the fact. Interesting.

OK, last comment - "Stretches of baking days?" (HEATWAVES) was good!

- Horace 

Sunday, June 8, 2025, John Kugelman

MEETING THEIR MATCH

Seems like a long way to go for these animal pairs. Eel and Rat, Ass and Elk, Ant and Dog... Would these things attract one another? What about Doe and Stag? Mare and Stallion? Sure, it would have been harder, but as it is, well, I don't know.

I have never run into the work BORK used to mean "Break, slangily." I looked it up and found that to some it means to obstruct, defame, or villify, surely stemming from the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork. Perhaps they mean "break" in the sense of "ruin the chances of," or something like that...

I liked FIXITINPOST (Deal with a problem later, as a filmmaker). And the plural seems a bit gratuitous in FRENCHOPENS, but it is timely. STEERTO (Point in the direction of) and LEDTO (Yielded) are a little duplicative. 

I like GLAMAZON (Tall, chic woman) as a word, and GOBANANAS (Lose it) is fun. And wouldn't it be nice if we had more use for the word RATIONAL these days? 

- Horace 

Saturday, June 7, 2025, Blake Slonecker

There are TSTORMS predicted today on the southern coast of Maine where I am today, but tomorrow promises to be sunny. Right now I am at a cafe that offers free wifi and I have to finish this review before my 93-year-old dad decides it's time to go home.

So let's see... this one is held together by eight - count 'em - eight grid spanners intersecting in the corners. The most surprising to me was ARMAGEDDONCHESS (Board game variant used as a last-resort tiebreaker). Like chess-boxing the other day, this is a new concept to me. Is it something that happens in actual chess? Or is it a different thing entirely? Ordinarily, I'd look it up, but the clock is ticking here. 

Things I liked: MAKEAFRESHSTART (Leave everything behind); RENEWEDINTEREST (What a retrospective aims to produce); "Annoyance in the middle of a season, perhaps" (SPOILER) surprised me; "Takes the field" (MOWS) was cute, as was "Leaves aside?" (PILE). "Change seats?" though, for SOFAS, might have been trying a little too hard.

My difficulty today came from guessing BEAsT for "Doozy" (BEAUT), which made SOURSON (Stops digging) difficult to see.

Overall, though, a fine Saturday. Played a lot easier than yesterday for me, but sometimes you'll have that.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

- Horace 

Friday, June 6, 2025, Adrian Johnson

Egad this was a hard one! That lower left corner nearly did me in! And really, a lot of it was not in my wheelhouse at all.

ENCASE (Keep from being touched, in a way) made me chuckle, because one of my friends is the head of a library, and we used to joke about him making lucite cases to enclose all the stacks so no one could access the books. Not really all that funny out of context. Or maybe even in context...

I wanted ARTSzone for "Cultural draw of Shanghai's M50 district" (ARTSCENE), but DEVILRY (Some Halloween mischief) made that pretty much impossible. I tried "tee" for "Culture center?," but it was LAB. And who knew a "Flavor enhancer in many pho recipes" was BONEMARROW? Remind me not to eat any more pho...

UPANDLEAVE (Split without warning) was what I did toward the end of the party last night. And SLOPPYKISS (Overly warm welcome, maybe), while slightly amusing, seems unlikely. I mean, who does that?
 

- Horace 

Thursday, June 5, 2025, Timothy Gaetz

In today's offering we need to keep in mind that there are NOIFSANDSORBUTS in any of the theme answers. So to "*Confirm to be true" is not to "verify" but VERY, "*Armed thieves" are not "bandits" but BITS, and "*Someone who knows how the sausage gets made?" is not a "butcher" but, simply, CHER. Come to think of it, she might also know. 

Clues like "Companionship?" (ARK) and "L'il belly" (TUM) seemed of a slightly different style, and I welcome them. There was a nice pairing of "Supporting" (FOR) and "Not supporting" (ANTI), and it still managed to get in some solid crosswordese with ATRA and OSLO.

Overall, I liked it. I didn't count to check whether there were equal numbers of words without if, and, and but, but it hardly matters. 

Nice Thursday.

- Horace 

Wednesday, June 4, 2025, Danna Rosenberg

There were a few things that I disliked in this one. OSAKAN (Resident of Japan's third-largest city) is reaching. Isn't every documentary an OPDOC? And BACKATYOU (Remark that may immediately follow an insult or a compliment) is something I've only heard used in a positive way. 

And that NW corner is just so ... ugh. AJAR, ALAMO, TINCT, ATIT, TEL...

HALFASS (Done without much care, informally) should probably be half-assed, but who would notice? 

And so we are made to MAKELEMONADE from the lemons found hidden in the theme answers. Here's one thing I liked - learning that the OPAH is the "Only known warm-blooded fish." They do not maintain a constant temperature, like humans, but are able to maintain a body temperature slightly above whatever water they are in. Additionally, they keep the temperature of their brains and eyes at a temperature slightly above that of the rest of their body. Weird and interesting.

- Horace 

Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Boaz Moser

Hmmm.... would you have been happier if the bedding strata had been positioned accurately? With the cushion on the bottom, the sheet in the middle, and the cover on the top? I would have been. But as it is, all three "light" theme answers contain elements of a traditional bed, so it works as a theme.

It's odd that three of the longer, non-theme answers are things that would not benefit sound sleep at all -ARMAGEDDON, PANICROOM, and OSCARSNUB. And I can add to that "Mean" STREETS, a DOGPARK with its CHORUS of barks, and the noise and excitement of an ACTIONHERO movie. Am I taking this too far? Yes, definitely. 

I did appreciate that both ASSES and HELL were included in the grid. LOLS.

- Horace

Monday, June 2, 2025, Anthony V. Grubb

04:52

Interesting theme today of expressions that include an article of clothing. 

EATMYSHORTS
PUTASOCKINIT
SUITYOURSELF

Each, a CLOTHESLINE, as it were. Not bad.

I was not familiar with KIRBY (Pink Nintendo character from Planet Popstar), and I was not expecting COHABIT (Live together) to be missing the "ate" at the end, but the crosses were fair. 

We saw a production of "The Odyssey" recently, so CIRCE (Greek sorceress who took the phrase "men are pigs" literally) went right in. And do you think there is an unwritten challenge in the crossword world to come up with new clues for things like "Erie" and OREOS? Well, today's clue for the latter "It's nearly impossible to split their creme equally, per M.I.T." was a new one. So congrats there.

So what else... "'Explosive' expletive" (FBOMB) was fun. I chuckled at "Like the name Parker, for a valet" (APT). And little trivia bits like "Only U.S. state whose capital has a three-word name" (UTAH) are always welcome. Solid Monday.

- Horace
 

Sunday, June 1, 2025, Sam Brody

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

The title says it all, as usual. The clues for the theme entries must be arranged - anagrammed - into new words, and that new word and a modifier meaning "arranged" will form the answer. As in:

LEGAL NICETY - GENETICALLYENGINEERED
RESIST - TWISTEDSISTER
and
ROYAL PERMIT - TEMPORARILYOUTOFORDER

It's a common idea, and it's done well here.

"Aid-de-camp?" was a cute QMC for TENTPEG, and "What you will" was an excellent non-QMC for ESTATE. Also cute: "Desirable formation for ducks" (ROW). Heh. 

Fun Sunday.

- Horace